The scale of huge Kettering search for Sarah Benford

These aerial images show the scale of the huge Kettering police operation to find Sarah Benford's body.

The two-week forensic dig, which began yesterday, will see parts of a 70m by 70m area of public space near Valley Walk excavated in the search for the missing teenager's remains.

The meticulously-planned operation, which has involved months of work, comes after Northamptonshire Police received a tip-off from a 'credible source' that Sarah is buried there. She went missing aged 14 in 2000 but her body has never been found and nobody has ever been charged with her murder.

Detective Superintendent Joe Banfield, who is leading the operation, told this newspaper that they are expecting to find her body over the next two weeks.

Yesterday officers spent the day taping off the area, putting fencing and mesh around it to screen it off from public view and mapping out anomalies in the land - areas different to those around it which could suggest ground movement.

Today (Tuesday) a digger has moved onto the site and police are currently working on the north-east area of land under investigation, near the public footpath bridge over the River Ise. A narrow channel has been dug up just a few yards behind a bench.

Markings have also been put around several other areas, suggesting they will be sections which will be excavated.

Each anomaly will be taken one by one, with ground penetration radar equipment used in the operation. Forensics teams will also use hand tools and trowels to dig.

The new police operation, which will involve more than 70 officers and round-the-clock sceneguards, comes after a multi-agency plan between police and the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory. Plans were drawn up after site visits from forensic experts, surveys, historical images and flyovers.

As of this afternoon officers are yet to find anything of note.

The investigation into Sarah's disappearance, the force's biggest ever cold case, began after she went missing from Northampton children's home Welford House aged 14 on April 6, 2000. It was upgraded to a murder inquiry in 2003.

She was failed by the authorities who failed to see her as a victim of exploitation by drug dealers and sex offenders. A serious case review concluded in 2004 found the county council’s children’s services department was understaffed and that Sarah was not assessed as she should have been. On the day she went missing she called her mum Vicki, high on drugs, but police refused her mum's frantic plea for them to pick her up and take her back to the children's home.

Despite more than 5,000 lines of enquiry and eight arrests, nobody has been brought to justice over Sarah's disappearance or murder.

Yesterday Det Supt Banfield told this newspaper they did not have any current suspects.

He said: "I am clear that somebody local knows how she died and somebody local knows who killed her.

"I would urged these people to come forward 20 years on and tell us what they know."

The area is popular with dog walkers, who told this newspaper of their shock at the major operation yesterday.

Northamptonshire Police has set up an incident number for anyone with information relating to Sarah’s disappearance, who should call 101. The incident number is 359 of 10/11/2021.